With cancer, abnormal cells grow out of control.
These cells were damaged and don’t go through the typical steps of dividing in an orderly manner.
Instead, they may multiply out of control and sometimes clump together, forming tumors.
kali9 / Getty Images
While you might feel many cancerous tumors that form masses, you might’t detect all cancers by touch.
Cancer of the blood, for example, is not solid.
Also, not all solid masses are cancerous.
Some tumors arebenign(noncancerous) and do not spread or invade nearby tissue.
More than 200 different types of cancer have been identified.
kali9 / Getty Images
Causes: How Do You Get Cancer?
Thegenesinside a cell control cell growth.
They make proteins that instruct cells how to function.
But if genes become altered (mutate), this process is put in jeopardy.
Some of these changes may allow the cells to grow out of control.
Genes are constantly being damaged.
In many cases, cells can repair this damage.
However, if there is too much damage, such repair may not be possible.
The cells may begin to grow out of control.
Risk factors are things that make it more likely that a mutation will occur.
These can come from within the cell or from outside it.
By the time you see such signs, the cancer has likely been brewing for a while.
How does this process get going?
You have trillions of cells in your body, and cancer can start in any one of them.
But if genes become damaged, cancerous cells don’t follow the normal rules.
It may leave the vessels and settle into a new site, causing more tumors to grow.
The process may then repeat itself.
Commonsymptoms of cancerinclude the following:
How Is Cancer Diagnosed?
Tests will be required to make a diagnosis.
Chemotherapy
Withchemotherapy, drugs are used to kill cancer cells.
The medication is transported by the bloodstream throughout the body.
In addition to shrinking and killing tumors, chemotherapy can, unfortunately, damage some healthy cells as well.
The radiation is aimed locally at the area affected by the cancer and does not travel throughout the body.
Surgery
Surgery is a staple of cancer treatment for many.
It can be used on its own to treat cancer or with other approaches.
Instead, your oncologist will likely recommend a systemwide treatment.
Or, these treatments may interfere with signals that allow cancer cells to divide and grow.
This can range from helping to ease stress to working to relieve treatment side effects.
It aims to lessen symptoms and side effects that may arise from the cancer itself or from a treatment.
It may range from managing physical problems such as nausea and shortness of breath to emotional and spiritual ones.
Cancer Staging
Determining what stage your cancer has progressed to is pivotal in fighting this condition.
Your oncologist may describe your cancer in the following ways:
They may also use more specific staging terminology.
Can You Prevent Cancer?
Healthy life choices may lower the risk of developing some types of cancer.
Another possibility is to search theAmerican Society for Clinical Oncology database.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provides asearch tool for an oncologist who takes Medicare.
Outlook
No two cases of cancer are necessarily alike.
Some types of cancer have a favorable outlook, especially when caught at an early stage.
To find such an agency near you, use thishome health agency locator.
Symptoms arise as cancer growth begins to affect the tissues and organs in which it starts.
It may eventually spread elsewhere in the body.
The symptoms you experience will be unique to you and the key in of cancer you have.
Likewise, your oncologist will design a treatment plan just for you.
National Cancer Institute.What is cancer?
Cancer Research UK.Types of cancer.
National Cancer Institute.How genetic changes lead to cancer.
Cancer Research UK.Together we will beat cancer.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Risk factors and cancer.
Skin Cancer Foundation.What does skin cancer look like?
American Cancer Society.Key statistics for basal and squamous cell skin cancers.
National Cancer Institute.Common cancer types.
National Cancer Institute.Common stat facts: Common cancer sites.
Cancer Research UK.Signs and symptoms of cancer.
Stanford Medicine.How is cancer diagnosed?
National Cancer Institute.Chemotherapy to treat cancer.
American Cancer Society.How radiation is used to treat cancer.
Cancer Research UK.What is cancer surgery?
National Cancer Institute.Targeted therapy to treat cancer.
National Cancer Institute.Immunotherapy to treat cancer.
National Cancer Institute.Complementary and alternative medicine.
National Cancer Institute.Palliative care in cancer.
National Cancer Institute:Cancer staging.
Cancer Research UK.What cancer staging is.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.How to prevent cancer or find it early.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Cancer screening tests.
American Society of Clinical Oncology.Choosing a doctor for your cancer care.
National Cancer Institute.Understanding cancer prognosis.
American Cancer Society.ACS patient programs and services.
American Society of Clinical Oncology.How to find a caregiver when you have cancer.
